1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to therapy pads which are applied to parts of the human body in order to ease pain and facilitate healing. More particularly, the invention relates to a cold therapy pad with a magnetic insert for simultaneously applying cold therapy and magnetic therapy.
2. State of the Art
Magnetic therapy (or magnetotherapy) is well known and widely used in the treatment of various ailments. Its effects are believed to be related to the effects of accupressure or shiatsu.
Many products are available for practising magnetotherapy and many of these are disclosed in U.S. Patents. Typical of these products are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,394,810; 3,943,912; 5,720,046; and 5,813,971, the complete disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. In general, these products are wearable items which contain pockets holding permanent magnets so that magnetic fields may be applied to parts of the body.
The way in which magnetotherapy works is not fully known. Some believe that the magnetic fields act upon hemoglobin in the blood and enhance the ability of the blood to carry oxygen and nutrients to various parts of the body. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,971. This mechanism would explain why magnetotherapy has effects similar to accupressure and shiatsu which tend to improve the circulation. It is perhaps with this perceived mechanism in mind that the prior art suggests that the effects of magnetotherapy may be enhanced by the application of heat in the area of the magnetic field. See, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 1,394,810. It might be hypothesized that the heat causes the blood vessels to dilate, come closer to the surface, and thereby be more readily affected by the magnetic field.
The inventor of the present invention has discovered that, despite teachings of the art which indicate that magnetotherapy is enhanced by heat, the ailments typically treated with magnetotherapy actually respond much better to cold magnetotherapy than to warm magnetotherapy. It is the present inventor's hypothesis that the application of cold magnetotherapy is far superior to warm or temperature neutral magnetotherapy in most cases.